By Nick Giongco

World boxing champion John Riel Casimero is not cut out from the mold of the typical Filipino athlete.

Casimero is neither soft-spoken, humble nor timid.

In fact, Casimero, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight titlist is vocal, boastful and outgoing.

Asked what he thinks of Naoya Inoue, the big-hitting Japanese champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF), Casimero sounded unimpressed.

“He’s (Inoue) got a bit of power,” said Casimero, who battles Inoue on April 25 in Las Vegas, brushing off Inoue’s renowned power.

Reminded that Inoue took Nonito Donaire’s best shots in their thrill-a-second slugfest late last year, Casimero, again, sounded the least surprised.

“We’ll see if he can take mine,” he added.

Casimero had always been supremely confident of his own brand of firepower and regards himself as the strongest of all residing in the 118-lb backyard.

Still, Casimero is not dismissing Inoue as somebody who’s going to pass out the moment he answers the bell at the Mandalay Bay.

Casimero just arrived in Miami for a three-week strength and conditioning stint with Memo Heredia, the same guy who prepared Juan Manuel Marquez against Manny Pacquiao in Dec. 2012.

Inoue, meanwhile, is already deep in training camp in Japan and is expected to land in America three weeks before the fight.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Simone Biles, the most decorated American gymnast with 30 Olympic and world championship medals, has excited fans with a four-second video clip of a training vault no woman has performed in competition.

The 22-year-old reigning world and Olympic all-around champion showed off a Yurchenko double pike vault and landed in a pit of red foam-like bricks with the Twitter caption “2020?” and three sets of widened eyeballs.

The video had been viewed more than 2.3 million times as of Thursday afternoon.

2020 ? pic.twitter.com/3QDjSOPYbH

— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) February 3, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

It’s a hint that the world’s top gymnast might have something new to display for the Tokyo Olympics and for US Olympic qualifying in June.

The vault features a back handspring onto the vault, then two flips in the air with her legs straight.

A key is gaining the height needed to land safely with under-rotation and botched landings opening up possible major injuries.

Biles would be favored for Olympic gold even without such an epic vault.

She won all-around, team, vault, balance beam and floor exercise gold medals at last year’s world championships in Stuttgart as well as the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Biles captured team, all-around, floor and vault titles at the 2018 worlds after taking team, beam, floor and all-around crowns at the 2014 and 2015 worlds plus all-around and floor titles at the 2013 worlds.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Waylon Galvez

Games Monday (The Arena, San Juan)

10 a.m. – Perpetual Help vs EAC (Men’s)

12 noon – Perpetual Help vs EAC (Women’s)

2 p.m. – JRU vs Letran (Women’s)

3:30 p.m. – JRU vs Letran (Men’s)

League leader College of St. Benilde cruised to its seventh straight win by sweeping Jose Rizal University 25-22, 25-13, 25-20 in NCAA Season 95 volleyball Friday at The Arena in San Juan.

Gayle Pascual and Mycah Go combined for 16 points to lead the Lady Blazers, who moved a win away to earning a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four. They face the Mapua Lady Cardinals on Friday.

“Dapat ang mindset namin in our remaining games is to finish strong. We keep on reminding the players to stay focused,” said CSB assistant coach Jay Chua.

After Mapua, St. Benilde will face off with defending three-time champion Arellano University on February 17.

Klarisa Abriam, who only started in the third frame, also had seven points while Diane Ventura and Kaila Ventura chipped in six markers for the Lady Blazers.

Meantime, veteran spiker Cesca Racraquin collected 18 points, including three service aces and two blocks, to power the Lady Red Spikers to a stunning 25-20, 25-19, 25-16 against the Lady Altas of University of Perpetual Help System DALTA.

San Beda’s win forced a tie for third place with Perpetual Help with similar 5-2 cards.

“Trinabaho nila itong panalo na ‘to against Perpetual Help, so credit sa mga bata,” said San Beda mentor Mesio Gavino. “Gumanda yung chance namin makapasok sa semifinals pero dapat mas magpursige pa kami.”

Earlier, Ruvince Abrot had 25 points and nine digs as the4 St. Benilde Blazers moved into a tie with the Arellano U Chiefs in third place at 5-2 following a 25-20, 21-25, 25-12, 25-20 win over JRU.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

The Houston Rockets, fueled by 41 points from Russell Westbrook, surged late to shock the NBA’s Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers 121-111 on Thursday.

Anthony Davis shook off a sprained right index finger to lead the Lakers with 32 points.

LeBron James added 18 for Los Angeles, who trailed much of the night but took a 108-105 lead on Avery Bradley’s pull up jumper with 4:57 remaining.

But the Rockets closed the game with a 16-3 scoring run to seal their fourth straight victory.

Their small-ball lineup — featuring no one taller than 6-foot-6 (2m) — proved more than a match for Los Angeles.

Sharp-shooting forward Robert Covington, acquired by the Rockets from the Timberwolves this week, drained two three-pointers and produced a key block as Houstonpowered to the finish.

Eric Gordon added 15 points for the Rockets, James Harden had a relatively quiet night with 14 points and Covington added 14. Six Houston players scored in double figures.

“They hit some tough shots down the stretch,” said Davis, who added 13 rebounds for the Lakers. “We made some costly turnovers, we didn’t complete passes that we normally complete and it hurt us when they got out in transition and we didn’t match up well — they were able to make us pay.”

James added 18 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds and Danny Green and Bradley scored 15 apiece for Los Angeles, whose Western Conference lead over the LA Clippers is now just 2 1/2 games.

In Milwaukee, reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered a dominant 36-point, 20-rebound performance as the Bucks avenged a Christmas Day loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with a 112-101 victory.

Antetokounmpo, who also handed out six assists, had 19 points and 10 rebounds before halftime as the league-leading Bucks powered to their 12th victory in 13 games.

The “Greek Freak” notched his fifth straight game of at least 30 points and 15 rebounds — the first NBA player since the 1985-86 season to put together such a streak.

“It’s crazy,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m happy that we’re winning and we’re playing good.

“But I can get a lot better. I can be smarter. I can be sharper. I can make better passes on time, make three-point shots and two-point shots. That’s the mindset I have.”

Khris Middleton added 20 points, and Eric Bledsoe chipped in 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Bucks, who improved to 44-7 and notched their 29th double-digit win of the season.

Tobias Harris led Philadelphia with 25 points.

Joel Embiid added 19 points and 11 rebounds but never found a good offensive rhythm — making just six of 26 shots from the field.

Ben Simmons had 11 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, but the Sixers’ road struggles continued.

With a 31-21 overall record, the 76ers are just 9-19 away from home.

Pelicans beat Bulls

New Orleans rookie Zion Williamson had another impressive outing in his injury-delayed debut season, connecting on nine of 11 shots from the field on the way to 21 points in the Pelicans’ 125-119 victory over the Bulls in Chicago.

Williamson was a force in the paint against a Bulls team missing their two defenders in Wendell Carter and Kris Dunn.

The Pelicans shot 56.3 percent from the field and led 103-81 heading into the fourth quarter and their biggest concern of the night was a right ankle injury to Brandon Ingram, who scored 15 points in 21 minutes but departed the game midway through the third period.

The Knicks won a nail-biter in New York, where RJ Barrett returned from a nine-game injury absence to score 12 points in a 105-103 victory over the Orlando Magic.

The Knicks led by as many as 13 in the first half but trailed by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter.

Julius Randle, who led the Knicks with 22 points, put New York ahead for good with 4:59 remaining with a jump shot that made it 98-96.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

The Los Angeles Clippers, pushing to improve at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, obtained power forward Marcus Morris from New York on a busy day of dealmaking for league clubs.

Trade information was all from multiple media reports as clubs worked to make deals involving several teams or decided not to change the roster with just over two months remaining until the playoffs.

The Clippers, powered by 2019 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard who left Toronto to join his hometown club, swung a three-team deal to land Morris, averaging a career-best 19.6 points with the Knicks this season.

“They gotta dog in Hollyhood,” Morris tweeted. “LAClippers lets gets it.”

Morris gives the Clippers the NBA’s fifth-ranked 3-point shooter, hitting 43.9 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, to add an outside threat alongside Leonard and Paul George.

Under terms of the deal, as reported by ESPN and The Athletic websites, the Clippers obtained Morris and Isaiah Thomas from Washington, sent Moe Harkless and a first-round pick in June’s NBA Draft to New York and dealt guard Jerome Robinson to Washington.

The Clippers are expected to release Thomas, making him a free agent. He averages 12.2 points and 3.7 assists a game with the Wizards.

The Denver Nuggets, chasing the Clippers and the Western Conference leader Los Angeles Lakers, landed guard Jordan McRae from Washington for Shabazz Napier, according to the Washington Post.

The Lakers, who didn’t make any deadline deals, are looking at free agent guards J.R. Smith and Darren Collison, according to the New York Times.

The Clippers are also reportedly looking at Collison while the Lakers would reunite Smith with former Cleveland teammate LeBron James if they sign him. Smith and James were on the Cavaliers’ 2016 NBA championship squad.

Detroit center Andre Drummond, the NBA’s top rebounder with 15.8 a game as well as 17.8 points a contest, is being sent to Cleveland, with the Detroit Free Press saying guard Brandon Knight, center John Henson and a second-round pick are going to the Pistons.

D’Angelo Russell is being sent from Golden State to Minnesota for Andrew Wiggins in a deal ESPN and the Star Tribune newspaper report, with two draft picks also going to Minnesota and Jacob Evans and Omari Spellman also going to the Warriors.

Andre Iguodala was sent from Memphis to Miami with Minnesota sending Senegalese center Gorgui Dieng to Memphis for James Johnson as part of the trade deal.

Philadelphia reportedly landed guards Alec Burks and Glen Robinson III from Golden State and sent forward James Ennis to Orlando for a second-round NBA Draft selection.

Haitian center Skal Labissiere was sent from Portland to Atlanta for cash, where he figures to back up newly obtained Clint Capela from Houston, which according to ESPN landed a reserve big man in Brazil’s Bruno Caboclo.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

LeBron James knows just how valuable Anthony Davis is, so he made his Los Angeles Lakers teammate his first selection in the NBA All-Star Game draft on Thursday.

For the second straight year, James and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, as captains of the two All-Star teams, picked their rosters from players selected for the contest by fan votes and NBA coaches.

James will be seeking a third victory as an All-Star captain in the mid-season showcase in Chicago on February 16.

As the top vote-getter in fan balloting, James had the first pick and he didn’t hesitate to take Davis.

“I know you’re all surprised,” James said as the draft unfolded on TV.

Antetokounmpo tapped Philadelphia’s Cameroonian big man Joel Embiid, “my African brother,” as his first pick.

James next opted for Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, while Antetokounmpo, a Greek citizen of Nigerian descent, went for Toronto’s Pascal Siakam, also of Cameroon.

James gambled with his next selection, taking Luka Doncic of Dallas even though the Slovenian star is currently nursing a right ankle sprain. James rounded out his starters with Houston’s James Harden, the league’s leading scorer, while Antetokounmpo took Boston’s Kemba Walker and Atlanta’s Trae Young.

When they got to the reserves, Antetokounmpo opened with Milwaukee Bucks teammate Khris Middleton and James selected Portland’s Damian Lillard.

Also on team Giannis: Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Utah defensive standout Rudy Gobert and Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell, Miami’s Jimmy Butler, Toronto’s Kyle Lowry and Brandon Ingram of New Orleans.

James added Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Oklahoma City veteran Chris Paul, Houston’s Russell Westbrook and Domantas Sabonis of Indiana.

“There’s no wrong choice,” James said. “They’re all All-Stars for a reason.”

The NBA announced last week that All-Star weekend would feature several tributes to NBA icon Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others who died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles on January 26.

Team LeBron players will all wear number 2 on their jerseys, the number Gianna Bryant wore on her school basketball team.

Team Giannis players will wear number 24 in tribute to Kobe Bryant. All the uniforms will feature a patch with nine stars commemorating the nine who died.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Los Angeles will host a public memorial on February 24 at Staples Center for NBA icon Kobe Bryant and eight others killed last month in a helicopter crash, US media reported Thursday.

The Los Angeles Times, citing two unnamed sources, and CNN, citing a source close to the Bryant family, were among the outlets reporting the event, which had not been officially announced.

The Los Angeles Lakers — the club where Bryant starred for 20 seasons — Staples Center, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office did not immediately confirm the event was planned.

The “2-24” date would carry some symbolism — Bryant wore the No. 24 jersey in the later stages of his career and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who also died in the crash, wore No. 2 for her school basketball team.

Gianna’s teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Alyssa’s parents John and Keri Altobelli, Payton’s mother Sarah Chester, basketball coach Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan also died in the January 26 crash, the cause of which remains under investigation.

Staples Center, the home arena of both the Lakers and the rival Los Angeles Clippers, as well as a concert venue, has hosted memorials for recording artists Michael Jackson and Nipsey Hussle.

The Lakers themselves paid emotional tribute to Bryant there in their first game after the club legend’s death, when they hosted the Portland Trail Blazers.

Read more: NBA: Kobe Bryant ‘not forgotten’ as Lakers honor franchise legend

Fans mourning Bryant had made the area outside Staples a spontaneous shrine, leaving mountains of flowers along with basketballs, jerseys, stuffed animals and other mementos.

Those items have been cleared away, with Staples Center officials saying the spent flowers would be used as mulch in plantings around the venue. Thousands of other items were packed up and sent to Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, at her request.

The February 24 date, a Monday, falls the day between two Lakers home games, and reports indicated it would take place early enough in the day to allow a Clippers to host a scheduled home game against the Memphis Grizzlies that evening.

Read more: NBA legend Kobe Bryant, daughter killed in helicopter crash

Source: Manila Bulletin

Recognizing the rising interest for functional fitness or Crossfit both in the local and the international scene, Crosstrain.PH, the Manila Bulletin’s dedicated publication for health and wellness is set to host a grand showcase of strength and discipline through the Crosstrain Invitational 2020.

Apart from local Crossfit athletes, participants of this year’s Crosstrain Invitational event hail from different countries including Australia, Brazil, Brunei, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the USA.

Crosstrain Invitational 2020 will be composed of five categories including Elite, RX, Masters RX, Scaled, and Masters Scaled. Participants will be tasked to perform five sets of ‘Workout of the Day’ (WOD), in which only the top 10 athletes will proceed to the final round with a different set of heat or routines.

Among the coveted Crossfit athletes to join this year’s Crosstrain Invitational include
Sheena Mabilangan, Katie Wreghitt, Sungyeon Choi, Isabell Wolfe, Eren Kim, Job Wi, Luc Devaux, Linda Mortensen, Andi Gin, and Woo Young Lim.

The two-day event also puts the spotlight on Crosstrain.PH as a go-to magazine for all things related to functional fitness, wellness, and health. Since its initial issue launched in October 2018, Crosstrain.PH has featured well-known athletes including SEA Games gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz.

Brand partners for the Crosstrain Invitational 2020 include Manila Bulletin, official media partner, Manila Hotel and Manila Prince Hotel, official venue partner, as well as Pro Touch, Arena, and Klean Athlete as major sponsors. Additional brand partners include Cafe France, Chooks-to-go, PlayHard, Manila Rubber Corporation, and Crystal Clear Water.

The Crosstrain Invitational 2020 takes place on February 8 and 9 at the Tent City, Manila Hotel. For more information about the event, visit http://www.crosstrain.ph and follow CrossTrain.PH on Facebook (https://ift.tt/2NiIgiO) and on Instagram (@crosstrain.ph).

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers said Thursday the Games would “go ahead as planned”, slamming misinformation over the new coronavirus for triggering panic.

Chief executive officer Toshiro Muto revealed that organizers have set up a task force to combat the fast-spreading disease that has killed over 560 people and infected at least 28,000 — the vast majority in mainland China — but promised that the Games would be not derailed.

“The Olympics will go ahead as planned,” he told reporters after a Paralympic project review.

“It is important to remain objective and cool-headed. We don’t want to alarm the public. The infection is still limited and there is no problem staging the Olympics based on the current situation.”

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) spokesman Craig Spence complained that scaremongering had created an “info-demic” that could skew public perception in the run-up to the Olympics and Paralympics.

“Fear is spreading quicker than the virus,” he said. “It’s important we quell that fear. Only 191 of the total cases are outside mainland China, so let’s put things into perspective.

“If you compare those rates with the common flu, they are still relatively small numbers,” added Spence.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has not declared this a pandemic. We dealt with the Zika virus in Rio and in these matters we need to rely on the experts.

“We will follow the advice of the World Health Organization. Every organizing committee looks into countermeasures, and we have measures in place from previous Olympics and Paralympics here in Tokyo. It is standard practice, it’s business as usual.”

More than 20 countries have confirmed cases of the flu-like coronavirus.

Global panic

Japan has had no reported deaths so far, but 45 cases have been detected, including at least 20 people on a cruise ship carrying more than 3,700 passengers and crew quarantined off Yokohama.

The WHO has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

Japan has warned citizens against non-essential travel to China and fast-tracked new rules including limits on entering the country as it tries to contain the spread of the virus.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday pledged that preparations for the Olympics would proceed as normal.

“The coronavirus is beginning to have an impact on tourism,” he said. “But the government will continue to steadily prepare for the Games in close cooperation with the IOC (International Olympic Committee), the local organising committee and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.”

The Japanese government has chartered three flights to repatriate 565 Japanese nationals from Wuhan, the central Chinese city hardest hit by the virus.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike promised at the weekend to implement “thorough measures” to protect people from the virus.

The health scare has led to the cancellation of Olympic qualifying events in China such as boxing and badminton.

The Tokyo Olympics begin on July 24 with the Paralympics starting on August 25.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Gilas Pilipinas laid down initial plans for the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers after holding its first practice Thursday at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center inside the Ateneo campus.

Fifteen of the 24 players on the pool took part in the afternoon session that lasted almost three hours under coach Mark Dickel, who was assigned to call the shots on an interim basis for the games against Thailand and Indonesia.

Project director Tab Baldwin also drew up some plays during the session with help from Dickel’s assistants Sandy Arespacochaga, Alex Compton and Topex Robinson.

PBA players Kiefer Ravena, RR Pogoy, Troy Rosario and CJ Perez and amateurs Isaac Go, Matt and Mike Nieto, Rey Suerte, Allyn Bulanadi, Jaydee Tungcab, Thirdy Ravena, Juan and Javi Gomez de Liano, Dave Ildefonso and Dwight Ramos took part.

Christian Standhardinger, Marc Pingris, Poy Erram and Kobe Paras also attended practice, albeit from the sidelines observing the proceedings.

Gilas is seeking to beat Thailand on Feb. 20 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and Indonesia three days later in Jakarta in order to start off its bid for an Asia Cup slot on a bright note.

Dickel was tasked to handle Gilas at least for the first window as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas continues to search for a permanent coach.

The Philippines is in Group A that also includes bitter rival South Korea. The top two teams in the group advance to the continental competition.

NOW: Gilas Pilipinas holding its first practice for the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers here at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center | via @jonastsinelas pic.twitter.com/D8h7DPIo3p

— Manila Bulletin Sports (@mbsportsonline) February 6, 2020

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Source: Manila Bulletin